Tocs (left) and Plavins show off their medals after they won gold at the Dela Beach Open

The Hague, Netherlands, January 7, 2018 – Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs marked their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together by winning gold at the Dela Beach Open on Sunday.

The Latvian pair beat Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak 2-0 (21-14, 21-12). Tocs showed his increasing confidence at the net, while Plavins used his experience to the full at the back of the court, in the indoor arena at Sportcampus Zuiderpark.

“I think after this tournament it will just get harder,” Plavins said. “We are still a new team and we will make a lot of mistakes, but this tournament we played really well and made no mistakes and got lucky sometimes, but we’re still happy we’ve won the final.”

The victory is Toc’s first on the World Tour, whereas Plavins won World Tour gold and London 2012 Olympic Games bronze alongside former partner Janis Smedins.

A number of their fans travelled from Latvia to cheer them on and they were not left disappointed by what they saw.

“It was a perfect week,” Tocs said. “it is a great stadium and we will look forward to coming back next season.”

It was an all-Dutch clash in the bronze medal match, and Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen finished with local bragging rights after they beat compatriots Christiaan Varenhorst and Jasper Bouter 2-0 (21-18, 21-14).

It is their first World Tour medal since the gold they won at the Xiamen 3-Star tournament early in 2017.

“We wanted to win this tournament and before the match we said it wasn’t really about the medal,” Brouwer said. “Of course it is brilliant, but another bronze is a bit hard for us.”For more information on the tournament, click here.